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New Reality Series 'Rookies' Features Tampa Officers

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By WALT BELCHER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 13, 2008

TAMPA - A new A&E network reality series, "The Rookies," follows the training of police officers in Tampa and in Louisiana.

Debuting Oct. 21, the program will follow eight aspiring police officers in Tampa including Amy Hess, A.J. Cafaro, April Levine and Dennis Cooper. Not all of the rookies will make it.

Production on the series began in December 2007 and carried over into 2008.

Tampa Police Department spokesperson Laura McElroy says the production company contacted the department, and "what we liked about the series was it shows that the police are people, too."

"It shows the human side as well as the difficulties of the job," she says. "You can see what it takes to be a cop."

Hess, for example, might look like the girl next door, but according to A&E, "She is one tough cop."

Her first week includes participating in her first SWAT assignment.

Cafaro, a former bar manager, executes his first search warrant and then sees a body.

Levine gets two "dead body" calls her first week. She has the harrowing task of putting human bones in a plastic bag and lifting a five-days-dead corpse.

Each half-hour episode is divided between Tampa and Jefferson Parish, La.

Cameras and microphones trailed after the rookies as they hit the streets after eight months of police academy training.

"Nothing is staged," says Rob Sharenow, senior vice president of nonfiction and alternative programming for A&E. "These shows put people in real situations that have the feel of scripted drama."

The 16-episode series was produced for A&E Network by Tiger Aspect and The Greif Co.

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